HYDERABAD: Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) chairman Mohammad Saleem Bhounr has a daunting task ahead — the combined competitive examination 2014 that is likely to be held sometime in March and April.

“It is a serious issue. May Allah be with me to ensure that deserving candidates get their due right,” says Mr Bhounr who assumed charge on Wednesday.

“If there are 10 candidates for one seat, it is obvious that they will have to compete,” explains the 62-year-old chairman, who did his masters in philosophy from Sindh University after matric from Hyderabad’s Noor Mohammad High School and intermediate from Government College, Kali Mori.

Bhounr, a career diplomat, has been part of the SPSC for the past six months as its member and has now taken over as chairman after being notified by the government following the seemingly unusual departure of his predecessor, retired Justice Agha Rafiq.

Justice Rafiq refused to yield to any kind of pressure as far as merit-based SPSC examinations are concerned, say sources in the commission.

The incoming chairman hails from Naushahro Feroze and had previously served in Pakistan Air Force selection centre for 10 years and in foreign service for 26 years, his last stint being in Switzerland.

Justice Rafiq, who had served as the Federal Shariat Court chief justice, recently resigned as SPSC chairman after finding it hard to get along with the commission against his own working style, the sources explain. Under him, they say, the SPSC last year conducted screening tests of 18,000 candidates for the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) examination for around 210 posts of excise and taxation, labour and section officers and assistant commissioners. In all, 3,375 candidates were declared successful in the screening tests comprising multiple choice questions in general knowledge and English.

Their written test is due this year, the sources add. Screening tests were held for the first time for the PCS examination under the Justice Rafiq-led SPSC, otherwise it was held for the position of lecturers, says an official.

“The outgoing chairman didn’t let his own son and daughter-in-law appear in the screening tests though they had submitted their forms before he became the SPSC chairman. Still, he didn’t allow them to appear in examination to ensure that no one should question his integrity,” says a commission officer, adding that it is “unseen in commission’s history”.

SPSC chairman Bhounr also speaks highly of his predecessor.

He says: “To me, the SPSC means people of Sindh and it [commission] represents all those who are permanently settled here. The deserving one must get their right”.

Another PCS exam centre

He says the commission will establish one more centre for PCS examination in Larkana, because there is only one screening test centre catering to Larkana and Sukkur districts. “It’s a big task. We will need space, expenses and centres for it,” he claims.

The chairman admits that candidates often raise a hue and cry notwithstanding the fact that only a limited number of candidates are to be selected.

The last combined competitive examination under the supervision of a 10-member SPSC was held in 2008.

Commission members have to deal with severe political pressure for competitive examination particularly for the posts of medical officers (MOs) and PCS, as all the influential persons want their ‘people’ accommodated, according to a source in the commission.

The source explains: “In the past, entire commissions were dissolved on the issue of the examinations for the post of MOs, which remained transparent in the mid-90s when the commission was headed by retired Justice Abdul Qadir Shaikh. He resigned and rest of the commission was dissolved.”

Likewise, the source adds, there was a chairman who faced inquiries when he got his family members selected though he got himself cleared thanks to the clout he enjoyed in early 2000.

The source in the commission says the SPSC chairman cannot be removed easily. He explains it involves as lengthy procedure as needed in case of a sitting judge. “Since Justice Rafiq was aware of it, he decided to call it a day on his own as he was not ready to face such things [pressure] on each examination,” adds the source.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2015

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